


Celestial Heart

by SerpentineJ



Series: Fluffy AU Shassie Key Word Oneshots [3]
Category: Psych
Genre: AU, Angst, F/M, Fluff, M/M, Shassie, kinga
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-21
Updated: 2015-05-21
Packaged: 2018-03-31 12:32:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3978160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SerpentineJ/pseuds/SerpentineJ
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Align – Lassiter is an aspiring astronomer. Shawn writes horoscopes for a living.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Celestial Heart

**Author's Note:**

> NOTE: SO this has been sitting on my laptop for what feels like forever, kinda half-finished and sad… and muiromem, grigiocuore, and dontaimtomisbehave and I’s AU discussion gave me the kick in the ass I needed to finish it, though it’s late and maybe crap.
> 
> ALSO: This is my first try at anything approaching angst. Comments are welcomed and will probably result in me blushing and grinning like a fool.

“Aries.” Lassiter read aloud, leaning on his partner’s desk. “You should watch out for bright blue cars and motorcycles. Also, there’s a pack of the good coffee in your desk.” He tossed the paper down and scowled, the dawn light beginning to peek through the windows of the observatory softening the harsh lines of his face. “He’s messing with me!”

Juliet sighed. “Carlton, why do you let him get to you?” She picked up the newspaper. 

Her partner sighed, rubbed his forehead, and walked to his own chair. 

“Hey, Lassie! Jules!” The door swung open and a brunette man strolled in, followed by his black companion, who was scowling petulantly, a frown creasing his forehead.

“Shawn!” Gus said. “You said we were going to Kingston’s! I'm hungry! I want jerk chicken, Shawn!”

Spencer sighed. “And you will get it, you sweet dollop of spicy goodness. But,” He turn around and smiled at O’Hara, “First, I just wanted to drop by on our favorite astronomers!”

“What are you doing here, Shawn?” Juliet smiled at him and tuned to the other. “Hey, Gus.”

The man in question grinned at her. She thought it looked more like a grimace. 

(Gus did get very grumpy when he was hungry, though, so she couldn’t blame him.)

Lassiter slumped down in his chair and massaged the bridge of his nose. “And it’s wonderful to see you as always, Spencer.” The sarcasm in his statement was palpable; he gestured towards the door. “Now, out.”

“Aww, Lassie.” Shawn flounced over. “I thought we had something special!” He picked up Lassiter’s coffee cup and, after a moment’s consideration, took a sip. His face immediately twisted, lips forming a pout, and he said, “Lassie, I went through all the trouble of getting you the good coffee, sneaking it in here and hiding it in your desk, and refilling your home coffee machine with it, and you’re still drinking this crap from the observatory break room?”

Carlton snatched his drink back. “Stop it.”

“No.”

“You shouldn’t be here.”

“Oh, but I am.”

“But you won’t be for long.”

“Oh, but I will.”

“Well, you can-“

Juliet rolled her eyes. “Carlton.”

~~~~~~

_Aries: Relax! Sometimes you need a break from work. Rest that fiery temperament._

~~~~~~

An hour later found them in a bizarre situation; Juliet and Gus were having a quiet conversation about a new superhero movie coming out at her desk, Jules’s computer monitor shoved to one side, and Lassiter was sitting straight-backed in his desk chair, holding his own in a verbal sparring match with Shawn.

“But Lassie, I’m telling you, it’s delicious!”

Carlton batted the hand clutching the fruity concoction from its place waving in front of his nose, scowling. “I don’t want your smoothie, Spencer! Go away!”

Shawn chuckled and took a slurp from his drink. “Your mouth says no, but your eyes are saying yes.” He teased, leaning against the astronomer’s desk. “And I’m done with the horoscopes for the next week, and Gus’s next interview isn’t for another three hours.”

“And that’s relevant to me how?” Lassiter asked, turning back to his monitor, temples beginning to throb. “And your horoscopes are a travesty to modern astronomy, you fraud.”

“We all know you loooove having me here.” Spencer drew out the word, dangling even more precariously over the other’s paperwork in an attempt to recapture his attention. 

Carlton rolled his eyes. “Spencer, there is nothing I would like more than to throw you out of the building.”

Shawn smirked. “Kinky. I knew it.”

The other flushed almost immediately, a red tinge working its way up his neck and setting his ears ablaze; he looked away, seemingly out of reflex. Shawn, knowing he had hit a nerve, filed the information away in the recesses of his mind.

“Shut it!” Lassiter shoved the annoyingly peppy man off his desk, sending him toppling to his knees. Spencer didn’t rise, just looked up and grinned. 

“All you had to do was ask, Lassilicious.” With that, he winked and sprang to his feet, eyes sparkling at the other's sputtering, and called, “C’mon, Gus, I promised you jerk chicken!”

At the mention of food Guster perked up, politely ending his conversation with Juliet and following his best friend. As they walked out the door, Gus prodding the other towards the car, Shawn turned and waved at the two astronomers; with a grin and a salute, he and his friend were bounding out of the observatory, cheerfully boarding their ridiculous blue car (“It’s the Blueberry!” Shawn announced, elbowing Lassiter, laughing at his skeptical expression.)

Carlton rubbed his forehead with one long-fingered hand. “Christ on a motorbike.”

His partner chuckled, marking down something on the logbook as she noted another star. “He’s got your number.”

“What?” He looked up, startled. “How did he get my phone number?”

Juliet shook her head. “It’s a saying, Carlton.” She smiled. “It means he knows how to rile you up.”

Lassiter scowled and went back to his calculations, spinning numbers and sketching graphs with a perfectly sharpened pencil, hunched over his papers. “He’s got nothing.”

She raised an eyebrow knowingly, smirking and returning her gaze to the scope.

Her partner really was adorable sometimes.

~~~~~~

_Aries: Pay attention to the little things today: the devil is in the details, after all._

~~~~~~

Lassiter began to receive anonymous texts.

He knew who they were from.

~~~~~~

_Aries: Check your mail today. You might be lucky, or you might have forgotten to pay your water bill._

~~~~~~

“He went through my mailbox, O'Hara!” Carlton fumed, ears red as he brandished an envelope. “My mail!”

Juliet frowned. “What did he take?”

Her partner huffed and threw himself into his own chair in a show of petulance. “He didn't take anything.”

“So he left something.”

“W-what?” Lassiter's cheeks were suddenly much redder, O'Hara noticed, cocking her head: he turned around and swept his mail into his desk drawer, the back of his neck pink. “Don't be absurd.”

(Of course, she went through the letters in his desk as soon as he left for the bathroom. The note, scribbled hastily on a piece of notebook paper, read: “Lassie. On the alpine highway of life, you are my all-weather tires. H&Ks, Shawn.”

She giggled.)

~~~~~~

_Aries: Good fortune is coming your way! Trust the winds of chance._

~~~~~~

“Libra.” Jules read aloud, “Your future looks especially bright today. Keep an eye on any prospective romantic partners, and on your email inbox in the next week.” She frowned. “That’s weird.”

Carlton rolled his eyes and readjusts the telescope. “He’s messing with you, O’Hara.”

She huffed amusedly at her coworker’s cynical comment and scanned further down the page. “Aries. Your one true love will be wearing jeans and a Police Academy t-shirt.”

His head whipped upwards, eyes widening by a fraction. “He’s gonna show up in a-“

“Lassie! Jules!” The newspaper writers blew into the room, the brunet with his always-infectious grin pasted on his face, the other trailing behind, seemingly tired if his friend’s boundless enthusiasm. Shawn was wearing a gray tshirt, “Property Of The Police Academy” emblazoned across the chest. Carlton scowled.

“Shawn! Gus!” Lassiter didn’t not-notice the way his partner lit up at the sight of them. “And why are you here today?”

Shawn bounced on the balls of his feet. “Do I need a reason to visit my favorite observatory?”

“If you’re interrupting work, yes.” Lassie was as short tempered as ever, despite the fact that there was very little actual work they had to be doing: there wasn’t much projected change in the space their scope was monitoring for at least a week.

“Aww, Lassie.” Spencer sat on the edge of his desk, jostling a stack of papers which Carlton had to catch. “Didn’t you read your horoscope today?”

Lassiter kept his eyes fixed firmly on his desk. “I did, Spencer, and I know you’re messing with me.”

Shawn smiled- a true, genuine smile, not the conman's smirk he so frequently wore, seemingly as a defense mechanism- and leaned even further over, so he was practically resting his chin on Lassiter's bent head. “Lasssieeeeee.” 

“What?” The other finally looked up, cheeks flushed, at the end of his questionably strong rope. “What do you want, Spencer?”

Juliet and Gus paused in their chatting, looking over towards Lassiter and Shawn, before bending their heads and beginning a new discussion is hushed tones, a grin creeping its way up Jules' face, Gus shaking his head exasperatedly.

None of this, of course, was noticed by the other pair.

Shawn looked slightly shocked, lips parted unconsciously, eyes wide- Lassie briefly registered some foreign emotion on the other's face before it was gone, shuttered away, hazel eyes suddenly flat.

The grin that flickered to life on his cheeks was false somehow, plaster, a glaring fluorescent light instead of the sunshine that usually seemed to seep from Shawn's skin, and it looked so inherently wrong that Carlton nearly recoiled- he felt something in his gut twist, squirm, some strain of emotion he hadn't felt for a long, long time.

“Nothing, Lassie.” Shawn said, face still frozen-looking, somehow rigid, a caricature of his usual cheeriness pasted over his mouth, and hopped off the table. “We'll... get out of your hair.”

Jules glanced at Gus and was surprised at what she saw: the usually calm man's face was scrunched, concerned, the furrow of his brow suggestive of sympathy or even pity.  
Interesting.

The silence was thick, even after the two had driven off, their small blue car seeming strangely somber in the brisk spring air.

~~~~~~

_Aries: Consider your actions before you commit to them: your Saturn is strong today, so your heart rules your head._

~~~~~~

Shawn didn't visit nearly as often after that.

In a typical week, the disruptive duo would burst through the doors at least three times a week, sometimes more: Shawn's sole purpose during these visits seemed to be to encourage Guster's flirting with Juliet and to irritate Lassiter. 

The observatory was quiet.

~~~~~~

_Aries: Watch out for rain today! It might be a good time to reassess your priorities._

~~~~~~

A week passed.

Carlton began to obsess over that last conversation. Post-it notes appeared over his computer monitor: “contact Guster”, “Jamba Juice”, “aquarium?” and it didn't take long for his partner to determine the cause of his frustration.

“You could just call, Carlton.” She said, voice light, the tone indicative of a cautious suggestion.

“No.” He knew what- and who- she was talking about without a name being mentioned.

“Why?”

Lassiter scowled. “No, O'Hara.”

~~~~~~

_Aries: If you find yourself slipping into unhealthy habits, consider the root of the problem, then address it._

~~~~~~

Carlton began to cut out the Aries horoscopes for each day. Juliet watched him meticulously paste it in a new spiral-bound notebook and worried: she tore a sheet of notebook paper out of her binder and scribbled down a note, frowning, concerned.

The atmosphere in the observatory was muggy, damp, somehow stifling with unsaid words.

~~~~~~

_Aries: If you're waiting for something, it might be time to act on it. Take a leap of faith: it might be rewarded!_

~~~~~~

The biggest shock came while Lassie was reading the horoscope section of the newspaper nearly two weeks after “The Incident”, as O'Hara had begun to dub it. 

_Aries: Lassiter, I'm sick of intercepting Shawn's horoscopes and replacing them to try to get this stupid message across. Call him._

Juliet laughed, weight off her shoulders for the first time in weeks, and texted Gus.

Carlton sat motionless in his desk chair.

~~~~~~

_Aries: There might be a crossroads approaching in your life. Consider all options carefully, but go with the one your heart decides is right._

~~~~~~

Shawn's doorbell rang.

It startled him, forcing him to look away from the thousandth rerun of Brokeback Mountain and towards the door of his cluttered, messy almost-apartment (actually a small space from where a retro candy shop had closed down: on the plus side, it had come with loads of shelves to put anything and everything on, though he was still finding taffy stuck to the ceilings and the mice were a bit bothersome sometimes.)

Thoughts ran through his head, lightning-fast and shining: who could be calling on his door this late at night?

Henry? No, not him. He had shouted his father out three days ago, and the elder Spencer had stormed out, shouting something about moping and moving on. Gus was on a date, Jules didn't know where he lived...

He opened the door.

And summarily shut it again.

Lassiter.

His heart- what was left of it- felt, alarmingly, nothing at all.

~~~~~~

_Aries: No matter the obstacles in your path, strive to achieve your goal. The end reward will be well worth the struggle._

~~~~~~

“Hey, Lassie.” He said, eyes up, facing the other head on. “What are you doing here?”

Shawn's voice was alarmingly cool, calm, smooth. Lassiter's chest felt about ready to implode.

“Shawn.”

There was a beat of silence.

“Yeah, that's my name.”

Carlton huffed. “Shawn, I'm trying to explain.”

Spencer laughed, and it was bright and cheery, in stark contrast to the flatness of his eyes. “Explain why you're on my doorstep at one in the morning?”

Lassiter raised his eyebrows and checked his watch, as though he hadn't realized what time it was.

“Oh.” He murmured, uncharacteristically subdued. “I can come back later if you-”

Shawn rolled his eyes. “Just come in.”

He didn't think, as the other man stepped gingerly over the threshold and into his apartment, about the irony in the situation: the fact that, three weeks ago, he would have given a season's pass to the zoo and four months of free pina coladas to get the astronomer to come willingly into his house.

~~~~~~

_Aries: If you're having second thoughts on a big decision you're making, take a deep breath. You decided on that course of action for a reason: remind yourself of that reason._

~~~~~~

“Er.” Lassiter shuffled his feet, face strangely scrunched, and it felt like something squirming in Shawn's gut, to see him looking so insecure. “I- I don't know what I'm doing here.”

Against his instinct, against his better nature, Spencer let himself laugh. “You came to my apartment at buttfuck 'o clock for no reason?”

Carlton frowned. “No...”

The silence was palpable, thick and viscous suspended in the air, cloying like molasses.

“I'm sorry.”

Well, Shawn thought. Of all the things that he had expected, a shouting match or a scathing rebuke or even a petulant whine, a genuine apology had not been anything other that the most remote of hope, a tiny flutter, a faint glimmer in the beaten, charred mess of a organ Shawn called a heart.

“Sorry?”

Lassiter shoved his hands in his pockets, and Spencer couldn't help chuckling. He looked so uncomfortable.

“I didn't-” He muttered, eyes flicking between the floor and the general vicinity of Shawn's torso, “I didn't mean to- to hurt you.”

“I'm not hurt.” Shawn smiled- a real, genuine smile, terrifying in its purity. “It's alright, Lassie.”

Carlton began to scowl. “It's not alright, Shawn.”

The other took a breath, squared his shoulders, faced his adversary and himself.

“It's fine.” He was still smiling. “Carlton, it's fine.”

And now Lassiter looked truly distressed, worry creasing his forehead and knotting his vocal chords, twisting its cold hands in his stomach and his chest. 

“Shawn.” He brought his fists out of his pockets, approached Spencer, laid his hands on the other's shoulders. Shawn flinched.

“Shawn.” Carlton's eyes were wide, glittering blue, and Shawn could feel himself spinning: could feel a flame ignite itself in his chest, warm and fluttering and truly alive for the first time in ages, beating without the need for attention or adrenaline or a challenge, because the man in front of him would be all the danger he would ever need, as well as his safety, his thrill and his calm.

He could feel himself tear up.

“Lassie.”

~~~~~~

_Aries: Trust in happy endings._

~~~~~~

Happily ever after might be overrated, Shawn thought, waking up with the spicy scent of cinnamon and musk in his nose and a pair of warm arms wrapped around his waist, but it was a hell of a lot better than heartbreak.

~~~~~~

_Libra: Jules, would you do Burton Guster the honor of going on a date with him? He says he bought tickets to the new MARVEL movie._

**Author's Note:**

> Comment? :D
> 
> Come hang out with me on tumblr: serpentinej.tumblr.com


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